The campaign to “disarm” the citizens of Serbia, which began on May 8 after the two mass murders in a primary school in Belgrade and three villages in Mladenovac, is progressing with great success, the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vucic, said.

“In the past three days, an almost unbelievable number, we have collected 8,500 pieces of various weapons, 784 narco-explosive devices, i.e. bombs and mortars, 398,450 pieces of ammunition, of various calibers,” says Vucic in a video posted on his Instagram account.

It is noted that the Ministry of the Interior (s.s. Public Order) of Serbia has given a deadline from May 8th until June 8th to hand over all the weapons illegally possessed by the citizens without suffering any criminal consequences. After this deadline, illegal gun possession will be punishable by severe non-parole sentences.

Citizens are not required to provide their personal information when handing over their weapons to police stations, nor are they required to show police identification upon entry. As reported by the Ministry of the Interior, there were cases where owners of illegal weapons called the police to collect explosive devices (mines, grenades, mortars) which they were afraid to carry themselves. In these cases, as mentioned, the transport of the war material is undertaken by a specialized pyrotechnics unit of the army.

In Serbia, with a population of 6.8 million, 765,000 gun licenses are in force. However, it is estimated that approximately 2.5 million citizens own at least one firearm.